Welding Tips and Tricks

some i have a prety stupid question here but what would happen if a person put a cold cut saw blade in your average wood chop saw?

You'll rip a hole in the time/space continuum.

Seriously, l think the wood saw spins faster than the metal blade is rated for.

sedanman wrote:You'll rip a hole in the time/space continuum.

the consequences of that could far out weight the election of our next president, or maybe not...

Running blades rated for one speed in a machine rated for another is always a bit iffy.

Never mind the space time continuum, there are worse things you could rip a hole in!



Kym

The cut parts on a dry saw don't get hot but the chips do. The wood saw is likely not built to deal with the very hot stream of metal chips. Wood saws also typically lack clamping mechanisms for the stock.

No problems at all

Given you match the speed and clamp well.

I run my circular Bosch saw with Evolution blade. Last week I cut 8 mm steel like nothing.
Did a bunch of 13 sheets of roof steel once. Saw handled it better than my legs that recieved the "stream"

Just wondering if you could use a dimmer switch hooked to a outlet to control the speed like I do for my gas furnace.

Tom Osselton wrote:Just wondering if you could use a dimmer switch hooked to a outlet to control the speed like I do for my gas furnace.

that would be a idea, i only realy need to make cuts in angle and such and is kinda pain to cut good with a pasma, im kinda on the fence of what i should buy as i kinda dont have the cash to get a cold cut type saw.. i could only realy spring for a wood or abrasive type saw..

Wood saw plus a metal blade is about as much as a dry saw. If you have a Home Depot card, order the Evolution 380 through their website and take 6 months to pay it off with no interest.

There are two issues with using a dry-cut metal blade in a saw not made for it.

The first has been mentioned, RPM. The dry saws (a cold saw is liquid cooled/lubricated), like a lathe or drill press, work best at a certain RPM and feed rate for the material. I don't recommend a simple "dimmer switch" in this application... A light bulb is a constant load while a saw is varying with your feed rate. They do make motor speed controllers that are quite similar but are designed for varying loads.

The blades are extremely hard and stiff, and over-revving them is a dangerous thing. Our Metal Devil at work advises running a new blade with no load and the guard closed for a full minute before making a cut to preclude a failure from a flaw.

This brings up issue #2... How tough is the guard on the saw you intend to use it on? Are you certain it's tough enough to contain a blade that shatters like glass but weighs significantly more?

I'm not going to tell you whether you can or should. I just want to be sure you're weighing the risks.

Steve S

Tom Osselton wrote:Just wondering if you could use a dimmer switch hooked to a outlet to control the speed like I do for my gas furnace.

Use a router speed control, built to take 15 amperes or more. These are triac voltage controllers and work by chopping off part of the sine wave. Noisy as ever with the sharp cutoff but brushed universal motors, they don't care. They run fine on DC if you have enough voltage since field and rotor are series wound.

I ended up bitting the bullet and buying a Evo Rage 3 saw i know its limited to 1/4 inch but its also able to do Wood and steel with miter cuts so killed 2 birds with one stone and also has a 11 3/4 wide cut capacity

ryanjames170 wrote:I ended up bitting the bullet and buying a Evo Rage 3 saw i know its limited to 1/4 inch but its also able to do Wood and steel with miter cuts so killed 2 birds with one stone and also has a 11 3/4 wide cut capacity

I've used that one, and it's nice. I went with the 14" Rage 2.

sedanman wrote:Wood saw plus a metal blade is about as much as a dry saw. If you have a Home Depot card, order the Evolution 380 through their website and take 6 months to pay it off with no interest.

Go look up the evolution rage 3..

thanks

The problem with the "dimmer switch" is that you would be decreasing the current available and reducing the power as well as the speed. It would be like taking your foot off the gas pedal instead of gearing down climbing a hill under load in a truck.